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Infrared Light

Infrared Light. In 1800 William Herschel discovered “invisible light” It’s energy with all the same characteristics as visible light, but is not sensed by the human eye The light Herschel discovered was just beyond the red part of the spectrum. So it was named “infrared”. The Spectrum of Light.

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Infrared Light

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  1. Infrared Light • In 1800 William Herschel discovered “invisible light” • It’s energy with all the same characteristics as visible light, but is not sensed by the human eye • The light Herschel discovered was just beyond the red part of the spectrum. So it was named “infrared”

  2. The Spectrum of Light • “Visible light” is a tiny fraction of the Electromagnetic Spectrum • Gamma rays--billions of waves per inch • Radio waves--up to miles-long wavelengths Low Energy Waves High Energy Waves

  3. All objects in the Universe emit light depending on their temperature. Cool objects emit primarily long wavelength light Hot objects emit primarily short wavelength waves The Physics of Light

  4. The Range of Infrared Light Infrared light lies just beyond the red portion of the visible spectrum ("below red“). Infrared wavelengths are about 0.7 to 350 microns. (amicron is one-millionth of one meter, or about 1/50th the width of a human hair).

  5. Getting the WHOLE picture An object can look radically different depending on the type of light collected from it: Since shortly after Herschel discovered infrared light astronomers have been observing astronomical objects in Infrared Light to get a more complete picture Visible Light Image Mid-Infrared Light Image

  6. Constellation Orion Visible Light

  7. Constellation Orion Mid Infrared Light IRAS

  8. Trifid Nebula Visible Light NOAO

  9. Trifid Nebula Infrared Light Spitzer

  10. Orion Nebula Visible Light

  11. Orion Nebula Infrared Light Spitzer

  12. Sombrero Galaxy Visible Light HST

  13. Sombrero Galaxy Infrared Light Spitzer

  14. The Whole Sky Visible Light - Axel Mellinger

  15. The Whole Sky Near Infrared Light - 2MASS Survey

  16. The Whole Sky Mid/Far Infrared Light - IRAS Survey

  17. Why Study Infrared? • Visible: dark nebula, heavily obscured by interstellar dust (“Horsehead Nebula”) • Near-Infrared: dust is nearly transparent, embedded stars can be observed forming • Mid- and Far-Infrared: glow from cool dust is directly observable Visible Near Infrared Mid-Infrared

  18. Why Study Infrared? • Cool objects--like newly forming stars and solar systems--emit almost exclusively in the Infrared

  19. Why Study Infrared? Infrared penetrates intervening dust clouds, allowing us to see through or into them

  20. But there’s a Challenge... • Earth’s atmospheric water vapor absorbs almost all incoming infrared radiation • Even mountain-top observatories get a limited view of the infrared universe Infrared telescopes need to observe from high altitude or in space

  21. NASA’s Infrared Missions Spitzer Space Telescope WISE SOFIA James Webb Space Telescope

  22. WISE WISE will map the sky in infrared light, searching for the nearest and coolest stars, the origins of stellar and planetary systems, and the most luminous galaxies in the Universe. Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer • WISE will deliver to the scientific community: • Over 1 million images covering the whole sky in 4 infrared wavelengths • Catalogs of  500 million objects seen in these 4 wavelengths wise.astro.ucla.edu asteroids brown dwarfs Galaxy ULIRGs

  23. Two decades ago IRAS gave us what is still our best view of the midinfrared sky.

  24. WISE will map the entire sky with resolution comparable to the view shown here.

  25. WISE Mission: Orbit WISE will be launched in late 2009 It will orbit Earth cart-wheeling once per orbit to always stay pointing straight up and will always keep its solar panels to the Sun. As Earth orbits the Sun, WISE’s orbit also rotates to maintain the spacecraft’s orientation to Earth and Sun

  26. WISE Mission: Surveying Each image exposure will last 11-sec and is matched to the orbit. Each orbit, a circular strip of the sky is imaged. As the orbit itself rotates, a slightly different strip is imaged. In 6 months, the entire sky is imaged There will be 8 or more exposures at each position over more than 99% of the sky.

  27. WISE Mission: Wavelengths WISE will survey the sky in two near infrared channels: 3.3 and 4.7 μm WISE will survey the sky in two mid-infrared channels: 12 and 23 μm

  28. WISE Science: Asteroids WISE will detect most of the Main Belt asteroids larger than 3 km, providing reliable diameters for them.

  29. WISE Science: Asteroids A simulated composite WISE image demonstrates how the motion of an asteroid will be easily detected WISE’s Education Program will allow students to search for asteroids themselves Blue: 4.7 μm Green: 12 μm Red: 23 μm

  30. WISE Science: Cool Stars WISE will find the coolest and closest stars to the Sun

  31. WISE Science: Cool Stars Red and Brown Dwarf stars are the most common type of star. They have lowest masses and are the coolest stars. They emit most of their energy in infrared light and are faint.

  32. WISE Science: Cool Stars Known Stars within 25 light-years

  33. WISE Science: Cool Stars WISE Stars within 25 light-years

  34. WISE Science: The Milky Way WISE will image the entire Galactic Plane

  35. WISE Science: Extragalactic WISE will image all nearby galaxies Galaxy M81

  36. WISE Science: Cosmology 2MASS Surveyed Large Scale Structure out to 1.3 Billion Light-years (z ~ 0.1) WISE will survey out to 6.7 Billion Light-years (z ~ 0.5)

  37. WISE Science: Extragalactic WISE will find the most luminous galaxies in the Universe:Ultra-luminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs) ULIRGs are merging galaxies whose collisions lead to dust-enshrouded bursts of star formation.

  38. WISE Mission: Spacecraft A cold 40 cm telescope in Earth orbit Enabled by new megapixel infrared detector arrays By being in space, the 40 cm WISE telescope is as powerful as 6,000 8-meter telescopes on the ground!

  39. WISE Mission: Payload

  40. WISE Mission: Cryostat Uses solid hydrogen to cool optics and detectors down to near absolute zero. Secondary Tank Primary Tank

  41. WISE Mission: Detectors Near Infrared Detector Array Mid Infrared Detector Array 10242 Si:As Detector • 10242 HgCdTe Detector in Focal Plane Mount Assembly

  42. Afocal/Imager Mount Interface Primary Mirror Baffles and vanes minimize stray light Scanner mounts to imager optics module Imager module provides common imaging optics for all 4 channels Afocal Structure Spider and secondary mirror Entire assembly mounts at a single cryostat interface ring Aluminum baffle tube WISE Mission: Optics The WISE End-to-End Optical System with Embedded Scanner

  43. WISE Mission: Scan Mirror WISE will use a scan mirror to stabilize the line-of-sight while the spacecraft scans the sky.

  44. WISE Mission: Telescope

  45. WISE Mission: Telescope Note: the M2 and M1 baffle cones were not installed at time of photo

  46. WISE Education & Outreach The WISE E/PO Program is a multifaceted enterprise bringing together a veritable who’s who of professionals in formal and informal astronomy education. The WISE E/PO program will inspire students, teachers, and the public at large to appreciate, understand, and take part in the WISE mission.

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